Northampton Community College

About: Northampton Community College is a education organization based out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3410 authors who have published 4582 publications receiving 130398 citations. The organization is also known as: Northampton County Area Community College.

River restoration by dam removal: Enhancing connectivity at watershed scales

Abstract: The prolonged history of industrialization, flood control, and hydropower production has led to the construction of 80,000 dams across the U.S. generating significant hydrologic, ecological, and social adjustments. With the increased ecological attention on re-establishing riverine connectivity, dam removal is becoming an important part of large-scale river restoration nationally, especially in New England, due to its early European settlement and history of waterpower-based industry. To capture the broader dimensions of dam removal, we constructed a GIS database of all inventoried dams in New England irrespective of size and reservoir volume to document the magnitude of fragmentation. We compared the characteristics of these existing dams to the attributes of all removed dams over the last ∼25 years. Our results reveal that the National Inventory of Dams significantly underestimates the actual number of dams (4,000 compared to >14,000). To combat the effects of these ecological barriers, dam removal in New England has been robust with 127 dams having been removed between ca. 1990–2013. These removed dams range in size, with the largest number (30%) ranging between 2–4 m high, but 22% of the removed dams were between 4–6 m. They are not isolated to small drainage basins: most drained watersheds between 100–1,000 km2. Regionally, dam removal has re-connected ∼3% (3,770 river km) of the regional river network although primarily through a few select dams where abundant barrier-free river lengths occur, suggesting that a more strategic removal approach has the opportunity to enhance the magnitude and rate of river re-connection. Given the regional-scale restoration of forest cover and water quality over the past century, dam removal offers a significant opportunity to capitalize on these efforts, providing watershed scale restoration and enhancing watershed resilience in the face of significant regional and global anthropogenic changes.

Healos and bone marrow aspirate used for lumbar spine fusion: a case controlled study comparing healos with autograft.

Abstract: STUDY DESIGN: A prospective case controlled study to compare the clinical and radiographic performance of Healos soaked in bone marrow aspirate (BMA) to iliac crest autograft when used in lumbar spinal fusion. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the null hypothesis: Healos used with BMA is not an effective alternative to iliac crest autograft in lumbar spine fusions. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Healos (a Type 1 collagen/hydroxyapatite matrix) is osteoconductive and when soaked for at least 20 minutes in BMA becomes osteoinductive. It is nontoxic and straightforward to use, avoiding the morbidity of autograft harvest. Animal studies and early clinical series in humans have suggested that Healos and BMA are an effective substitute for autograft in certain circumstances. METHODS: From July 2000, Healos and BMA were used as the graft material, instead of autograft harvested from the iliac crest, in all patients undergoing lumbar spinal fusion. Clinical outcome measures used were the Low Back Outcome Score (LBOS), a Patient Satisfaction Score, and the Prolo Economic Score (after Schnee). Standing anteroposterior and lateral radiographs were taken at 12- and 24-month follow-up visits. The first 50 cases in this consecutive series were age, sex, and operative intervention matched to historical controls who underwent surgery between 1997 and 2000 and in whom autograft from the iliac crest had been used as the graft material. Surgical outcome data in these patients had also been gathered prospectively. An independent radiologist, blinded to the graft material, using standard plain radiograph criteria for fusion, examined all the radiographs. An independent surgeon assessed clinical outcomes. RESULTS: For posterolateral lumbar fusions, there were equivalent radiologic fusion rates for the 2 groups with no significant difference in the subjective and objective clinical outcomes. The radiologic fusions rate was significantly lower when Healos had been used for lumbar interbody fusions. Clinical outcomes for both groups were similar. There were no lasting complications associated with Healos use compared with a 14%; persisting donor site complication rate in the autograft patients. CONCLUSION: The null hypothesis is only partially correct. Healos and BMA are not inferior to autologous iliac crest bone as a graft material in posterolateral lumbar spine fusions but are radiographically ineffective in lumbar interbody fusions.

Consumption of black tea elicits an increase in plasma antioxidant potential in humans

Abstract: Epidemiological studies suggest that the consumption of tea flavonoids may be associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer-related deaths. The flavonoids are polyphenols which in vitro exhibit antioxidant properties. Tea flavonoids are known to be rapidly absorbed into the circulation following oral ingestion. To date few studies have demonstrated that these bioavailable flavonoids retain antioxidant properties in vivo. Nine healthy subjects aged between 26 and 59 (one male and eight females) took part in 3 study days. On 1 day subjects consumed no tea and on the other 2 days subjects drank either black tea with milk, or black tea alone at hourly intervals between 9.00 a.m. and 14.00 p.m. Blood was sampled at 9.00 a.m. and at 12.00 p.m. and 15.00 p.m. The antioxidant potential of plasma was determined using the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Subjects consuming no tea exhibited no significant change in FRAP across the 6 hours of the study day. Similarly consumption of milky tea produced no change in FRAP between 9.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m. and the 50% increase in FRAP noted between 12.00 p.m. and 15.00 p.m. was not statistically significant. When the subjects consumed black tea without milk FRAP increased by 65% between 9.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m. (P = 0.02) and at 15.00 p.m. was 76% higher than at 9.00 a.m. (P = 0.002). Heavy consumption of black tea thus appears to elevate circulating antioxidant potentials in vivo. This is an effect which appears to be totally negated by the drinking of tea with milk. Although tea may thus represent an important source of dietary antioxidants in many societies, the role of tea in reducing risk of major disease states needs to be investigated in more detail.

Hot dip galvanising of transformation induced plasticity and other intercritically annealed steels

Abstract: Conventional transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels have high Si levels, which makes it difficult to coat them satisfactorily by hot dip galvanising. As a consequence, new low Si TRIP stee...

Schizophrenia and deliberate self-harm: a systematic review of risk factors

Abstract: Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is a strong predictor of suicide in schizophrenia. The aim of this review was to identify risk factors for DSH in schizophrenia. This systematic review of the international literature examined cohort and case-control studies of patients with schizophrenia or related diagnoses that reported DSH as an outcome. Studies were identified by searching electronic databases and reference lists, and by consulting international experts. Fourteen studies met the eligibility criteria. Of the 29 variables examined by two or more studies, five (past or recent suicidal ideation, previous DSH, past depressive episode, drug abuse or dependence, and higher mean number of psychiatric admissions) were associated with an increased risk of DSH, and one (unemployment) was associated with a reduced risk. Schizophrenic patients with these risk factors need careful follow-up and monitoring, with treatment of any associated comorbid depression or drug abuse. Large, prospective studies of DSH in schizophrenia are needed to further define risk factors and to build on the findings of this review.